MAZOWE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday handed out title deeds to 10,000 A1 farmers and launched a US$2 billion irrigation scheme, pledging to transform small-scale farming into a climate-resilient, year-round enterprise.
At a ceremony held at Craigengower Farm in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central, Mnangagwa said the so-called A1 Irrigation Productivity Booster Kits would mark a turning point in Zimbabwe’s push for food security. Each participating farmer is set to receive irrigation equipment worth US$6,000, financed through a loan facility to be repaid over seven years.
“This programme will free our farmers from dependence on rainfall and ensure food security for our nation,” Mnangagwa said, promising that the scheme would eventually cover 300,000 beneficiaries nationwide.
But while the handover was pitched as a milestone in agrarian reform, legal experts immediately raised doubts over the legitimacy of the “title deeds” given to farmers.
Prominent lawyer and opposition politician Fadzayi Mahere described the exercise as unconstitutional.
“The constitution does not allow for private ownership of agricultural land. Sections 72(4) and 72(5) make it clear that all agricultural land belongs to the State. Title deeds for such land were cancelled after the land reform programme, and the law only permits the State to issue permits, offer letters or leases — not title deeds,” Mahere said.
She added that the documents distributed by government “are of no force or effect” and would not be recognised by banks as security for loans or lawful transfers of land.
The irrigation initiative is also drawing comparisons with the controversial Command Agriculture programme, which left treasury saddled with billions of dollars in debt amid accusations of massive corruption.
Critics argue that the new irrigation kits are overpriced. One government critic said:
“The kits cost less than US$2,500 on the market. Farmers are being forced to take on a US$6,000 debt, leaving US$3,500 per kit to be skimmed off. Multiply that across the 300,000 targeted farmers, and it’s a potential US$1 billion scandal.”
Such concerns have fuelled suspicion that the scheme could be another state-backed mechanism for looting under the guise of empowerment.
The controversy deepens with the involvement of businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a close Mnangagwa ally who chairs the Land Tenure Implementation Committee. Tagwirei is also a major shareholder in CBZ, the bank spearheading the loan programme.
Analysts warn that this dual role raises serious conflicts of interest, with fears that CBZ could ultimately seize vast tracts of farmland from farmers who default on their loans.
“The scheme is diabolical in its simplicity. What looks like liberation is debt bondage. What looks like development is theft, institutionalised at scale,” one critic observed.
Food Security vs. Political Patronage
Government insists the irrigation drive is about climate-proofing agriculture and boosting productivity. Mnangagwa cited improvements in grain output in recent years as evidence that state-led interventions are bearing fruit.
Yet the questions over the legal standing of the title deeds, the true cost of the irrigation kits, and Tagwirei’s central role cast a long shadow over what was meant to be a flagship initiative.
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